The Alamo City Rivermen Babbler Issue MMCCLXIX 20 th Anniversary Year October 2007

Transcription

1 The Alamo City Rivermen Babbler Issue MMCCLXIX 20 th Anniversary Year October 2007 The monthly newsletter of the Alamo City Rivermen Paddling the fine line between geek and Bubba. Next Meeting October 10, 2007, Hungry Horse Rest., West Avenue, near the intersection with Rhapsody. 6:30 to 9:00. Club Officers Temporary President for Life :-) Gig Hafernick gibguy76 at yahoo dot com Vice President Kathy Cusick kmcusick at juno dot com Sec./Treas. Marie Searight mariejs at satx dot rr dot com Newsletter Mailings Marie Searight mariejs at satx dot rr dot com Editor Kenneth Bennight klbennight at yahoo dot com Canoeing Urbanistas en el San Antonio The first in quite a while Happy Hour Tuesday Bridge Club on the San Antonio went off to some success, with 10 boats, a bunch of people and a dog doing a little urban canoeing and kayaking in the downtown San Antonio River Channel. Thanks to the City Downtown Operations and a special permit for our club, we got to paddle (and pole) probably the most scenic section of the river channel around the King William District. The great old homes were built with their backs to the river, now profusely landscaped. Perhaps the neatest vista was paddling the stretch with the beautiful Tower Life Building rising up out of the end of the channel. The north end is capped with quite a waterfall at the weir at Nueva Street, especially this year when the river is flowing. It was good to see kingfishers zooming from tree to tree, that's surely the sign of at least some sort of ecosystem in operation here. I forgot how much work flatwater really is; this paddle can be made into quite a workout if you want. The whole stretch is almost a mile long, as measured by our resident technologist. In fact, we did a little impromptu race on the last circuit back, with one member having a distinct "Advantage", in the Wenonah sense of the word. After we packed up, we retired to Blue Star Brewery for a nice cap off to the evening. It really made for a nice decompression from a busy work day. Randy Hohlaus -o0o- -o0o- Ein Prosit! Anhalt Octoberfest Float Trip We will be doing the Anhalt Octoberfest paddle trip again this year on Sunday, October 21, This event is traditionally held the third Sunday of each October. (Continued next page) Page 1 of 8 Pages

2 October 10, 2007 Monthly Meet & Greet Upcoming Events Hungry Horse Rest., West Avenue, near Rhapsody. 6:30 to 9:00 October 12-14, 2007 Coastal Trip, Seadrift Gib Hafernick, gibguy76 at yahoo dot com October 21, 2007 Anhalt Trip, upper Guadalupe Randy Hohlaus, hohlaus at prodigy dot net October 23, 2007 November 3, 2007 November 14, 2007 November 23-25, 2007 Tuesday Happy Hour Bridge Club, San Antonio River, downtown Goliad Canoe Trail, 5th Annual Flotilla Monthly Meet & Greet Turkey Trot Randy Hohlaus, hohlaus at prodigy dot net I.L. Holdridge, majorh at satx dot rr dot com Hungry Horse Rest., West Avenue, near Rhapsody. 6:30 to 9:00 Randy Hohlaus, hohlaus at prodigy dot net December?? 2007 Christmas Party?????? January??, 2008 Freeze Trip Gib Hafernick, gibguy76 at yahoo dot com (Anhalt, continued) We will meet at 9:00 a.m. at the canoe launch area at Guadalupe State Park. We will drop our boats, with someone to watch over them, and then run the cars down to Specht's crossing. Hopefully, we will cram into a vehicle or two and shuttle the drivers back. Someone(s) will have to leave their car at the put-in, but we will get you back. We will then float the approximately 6 miles down to old Spring Branch Road to Specht's, and then take out. This stretch has some rapids, and care needs to be taken to portage around the "dam bridge". Check the flow gauges to make sure they are at your comfort level. We will then reconvene at the Anhalt Farmer's Verein for their Octoberfest celebration. Anhalt is off of Highway 46, about a mile of paved and gravel road toward the river, and just west of the old Spring Branch road intersection. Admission is $5.00. They will be serving a traditional family style German pot roast lunch, all you can eat, in their 130 year old Dance Hall. At 1:00pm, the oompah band will fire up, and there will likely be some rides or attractions if you bring kids. It s a pretty nice look at old German hill country culture, this event has been held for over 100 years. If you have any questions, you can me, and let me know if you are coming, for a head count. Auf Wiedersien! Randy Hohlaus, hohlaus at prodigy dot net Page 2 of 8 Pages

3 -o0o- By Kathy Cusick and Kevin Longin Arkansas River Trip Report We made our first visit to Colorado for something other than work or skiing during Labor Day week. We went to see our property in South Fork, CO for the first time in the summer, and then proceeded to Buena Vista, CO to paddle the Arkansas River. Larry Rice, a freelance writer / photographer for outdoor magazines, and an accomplished open boater, who lives in Buena Vista, had agreed to meet up with us to show us the river. We made connection with Larry as he had gone on a Rivermen trip on the Rio Grand, and published the article about the trip in the August 2007 Canoe and Kayak magazine. We found that Colorado rivers have a significant amount of BLM land and State park along their shores, so the camping options are numerous. BLM sites are free, but we camped at a riverside state park that was the put in for The Fractions and the take out for The Numbers sections of the Arkansas River very convenient. The water levels for all 3 sections we ran were about cubic ft. per second (cfs), which is considered to be a little on the low side by those in Colorado. Earlier in the season there is additional water in the river from dam releases, but this ended August 15th. Even though the water level wasn t high, we found it to be more than sufficient. Rather than being low the river just becomes more technical at this level. We ran The Fractions, a 7 mile section on Labor Day. (Class III) (Altitude = 8230ft to 7920ft). We were amazed that no one else was on the river. The Fractions is a great class III section of river with what is considered moderate gradient in Colorado (Average Gradient = 44 ft./mile (fpm) (for a Texas reference the lower Guadalupe average = 10fpm). The only really dangerous rapid on this section is Frog Rock rapid which we portaged around. It features two large undercuts with a sieve in the middle. Flipping over here has lead to numerous entrapments and deaths, and we were not in the mood to risk it. There are signs upstream of Frog Rock warning of its danger, so you can be prepared to take out. House Rock rapid is a large boulder that splits the river into two channels about a mile before the Buena Vista take-out. We scouted this rapid as well, in order to determine the best line. Page 3 of 8 Pages

4 Kathy on the Fractions section. Larry Rice in his Spanish Fly canoe The uppermost section we ran was the Numbers (Elev. 8580ft to 8230ft) on Tuesday (Class III-IV, see Kathy in KMC #s11b.jpg). This is a 5 mile section of the Arkansas with average gradient of 71 fpm. When the dams are releasing, this section is considered to be the quintessential class IV run in Colorado. Guidebooks note that the river channelizes and is fun IV- down to about 300cfs. This technical, narrow and rocky section cascades through one of the most beautiful alpine canyons in Colorado. There are six named rapids in The Numbers, numbered from 1 to 6. Between the named rapids are plenty of class III rapids to keep the excitement going the whole way. Page 4 of 8 Pages

5 Kathy Running the Numbers The lowest section of the Arkansas that we ran was Browns Canyon (Class III) (Elev 7665ft to 7260ft). This is a 13 mile section with average gradient of about 31fpm. Brown s is nice fun run, with lots of smooth rounded granite. And, it is a beautiful section of river, with spectacular views of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range, but unfortunately we forgot to bring the camera. The only sign of civilization is the railroad on river left, and wildlife abounds, with bighorn sheep coming down out of the hills to watch us paddle by. The most challenging rapid is Zoom Flume, about half way through the run. It has some munchy holes in the middle so we scouted it by walking along the railroad track. It is probably a class III(+), at the level we ran it, and might make a class IV(-) at higher water. Siedel s Suckhole, and toilet bowel, were interesting, swirly rapids, and Pinball was a nice eddy hopping run. Rocky Mountain High, I ve Seen it Raining Fire in the Sky (Looking at the Rockies across the rainy San Luis Valley from our campsite at Great Sand Dunes National monument) Page 5 of 8 Pages

6 In general, this was a fantastic paddling trip. The lack of air at this altitude took a lot more out of us than we had expected. It was probably the biggest surprise for us, other than that all of our mini-cell foam gear had expanded incredibly (very poofy PFDs). Buena Vista and Slidell were very interesting little towns, heavily devoted to the paddling lifestyle. Both cities had very nice paddle parks with access and viewing areas right in the center of town. We enjoyed shopping at Colorado Kayak Supply in Buena Vista and a multitude of interesting shops in Slidell. We can t thank Larry Rice enough for taking the time and interest to show us the spectacular river in his back yard. He was very gracious to these 2 crazy Texas paddlers that he had never met before. -o0o- Happy Hour Tuesday Bridge Club Float, Downtown San Antonio By popular demand, we will try and get one more of these urban canoeing events in this year. Put the boat on top of the car, and join us after work for a happy hour float on the San Antonio River, this coming Tuesday, October 23. We will receive a permit from the City to float the river on the stretch from Nueva to Alamo Street. This is not the river channel where the barges are, but is a quiet and prettily landscaped flat water stretch that floats through King William and the HEB headquarters area. Some say its almost a mile in length. It makes for a pleasant float, or you can turn it into a workout if you want. Maybe we'll do a little racing! After the float, we will head over to Blue Star Brewery to get celebrate with some riverside refreshments on the deck, catch some food, and maybe a little of the big band sound they have every Tuesday night. The put-in is at the Guenther Street bridge at the San Antonio River Authority headquarters building. There is parking nearby, and a ramp where you can carry your boat to the water. Our permit is from 5:00pm to 7:30pm. It will probably be dark by 7:00 anyway. The permit allows a limited number of boats to float this stretch, so let me know if you are coming so I can keep a boat count. In the event of flood warning conditions, this float will be canceled. So the "Bridge Club" returns. Gib started this some years ago, and we haven't done if for several years. He says the name comes from the fact the trip goes from bridge to bridge; I guess that's good enough for me. But I'm adding Happy Hour to it, because that is what it will be, anytime we get on the water. Randy Hohlaus, hohlaus at prodigy dot net Page 6 of 8 Pages

7 Alamo City Rivermen Mileage Log Sheet Page 7 of 8 Pages

8 Alamo City Rivermen Membership Application Name: Address: Home Telephone: Business Telephone: The Alamo City Rivermen try to keep their activities safe, but risk is inherent in water sports. We cannot and do not guarantee safety. The Alamo City Rivermen disclaim liability for accidental injury or death in any sponsored event. As a condition of membership and participation in club sponsored events, I release, acquit, and forever discharge the Alamo City Rivermen and its officers, agents, and members from all liability arising out of or relating to a sponsored event, even if negligence of the club or its officers, agents, or members is a cause, and even if I die or am injured This release includes not only actual paddle trips but also all other club events and driving or riding to and from club events. Date: Signature: Signature: Membership dues are the same for an individual or a family. As a member of the Alamo City Rivermen, you are automatically entitled to our monthly newsletter and subscription to our list. Details on these benefits are available in our newsletter. I prefer to receive the newsletter: (Please circle the one you choose) Dues if newsletter sent by $15.00 Dues if newsletter sent USPS $20.00 (Note: Newsletter copying and mailing has been our biggest expense; using frees up money for other activities, including our website.) Mail this completed form, together with a check, to: Alamo City Rivermen Canoe Club P.O. Box San Antonio, Texas Page 8 of 8 Pages